Not A Thing
by Jael K
Summary: The Legends have known this confrontation with the Time Bureau was coming. It's really no surprise to Sara that it affects one of their number even more than the others. (Sequel to "Carry Me Home," "Next Morning," and "Knights in Muddy Armor" - set in an alternate Season 3. TimeShip and background CaptainCanary.)


Author's note: This is another in the series that includes "Carry Me Home," "Next Morning," and "Knights in Muddy Armor." It's set in an imagined Season 3 in which the Legends are cleaning up the aberrations they caused...and the first one they found was Leonard Snart. :) I highly recommend you read the others first.

After the events of the Legends premiere, I knew I had to finish this. For reasons.

* * *

Sara'd known the confrontation was coming for a while. But afterward, as she leaned back against the wall near her bed and took a hefty swallow of her drink, she thoroughly wished it'd gone a little more...smoothly.

When Rip had asked for a meeting, right at the same spot where he'd met them nearly two years before in Central City, the Legends had agreed. Sara wasn't the only one who'd realized this had to happen at some point; indeed, they all had.

But some of them were more concerned about it than others.

Sara'd walked out to meet the former captain. They hadn't planned it that way, but Leonard had fallen into step just behind her to her right, and Jax to her left. The others were arrayed behind them, a show of solidarity that warmed her.

Rip had only come with two others, a big man with skin so dark that his pale eyes were a startling contrast and a woman with long pale hair and a rather severe expression. His shoulders tensed just a little as the team crossed the ground to stand facing the trio, but he took a deep breath and gave her an almost pleading expression.

Sara didn't bite, folding her arms and shaking her head.

"No," she said, before he could even open his mouth. "It's not going to happen easily, Rip. Give it up."

The Time Bureau chief sighed.

"Miss Lance, you've been a talented captain..." The woman had snorted at this, a sound Rip and Sara had ignored, Mick had growled at, and Leonard and the big man had promptly rolled their eyes over in odd solidarity.

"...but I have trained Time Masters who need ships, and the Waverider is one of the best. How can I justify letting a..."

"Watch it, Rip." Mick had had enough, and the rest of the team had murmured along with him. (Zari a little louder than most, and Sara fervently hoped their newest recruit wouldn't favor the former captain with a list of precisely what she thought of the care that that been taken with the timeline she knew.)

But Sara had remained still, and they'd quieted. Finally, she'd sighed, looked her...well, she still hoped he was a friend...in the eyes and spoke.

"We've been cleaning up the aberrations," she'd told him calmly. "Slowly but steadily. And you know perfectly well that there are things we can do that you can't. The Waverider is my...our...ship. You can't just _take_ it." And when he'd opened his mouth to respond: "And you of all people know it's more than that."

Rip had started to respond, and Sara, looking back, was just as happy she hadn't heard what he'd been about to say.

Because that's when their trump card had pushed her way forward through the group, walking up to stand between Jax and Sara.

Gideon hadn't wanted to be seen, not at first, telling Sara she wanted to see what Rip was going to say before making her presence known. But it seemed she'd had enough.

"Hello, Captain," she'd said quietly, so quietly that Sara wasn't sure everyone could even hear her. "Do you not think _I_ should have some say in this matter?"

Rip had stared. Just stared, while his cohorts shifted uneasily besides him.

"Gideon?" he'd whispered, finally—and Sara had watched as the Time Agents jaws had dropped. "But..."

Gideon took a deep breath. Then, seemingly perfectly at home in her human body, she'd stared back at her former...captain?...and folded her arms.

"You may take the ship," she told him, to all appearances serene, "but you will not take me. And how much good will the ship alone do you?"

Things had gone to pieces after that, with the Time Bureau woman raising her voice (Sara'd only heard the word "abomination") as the big man had pulled her away. Gideon had ignored them both, instead taking a few quick steps away from both groups while Rip, still looking rather like he'd been smacked with a board, had followed her.

Jax had looked like he wanted to follow them both, but at a glance from Sara, he'd turned to join Amaya in trying to get the still-angry Mick back to the ship. Once the others were safely on board, Sara had started to head over to break into that meeting, but Leonard had stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"I'll go make sure she's OK," he'd said quietly. "And I want a few words with ol' Rip."

"Don't..."

"Sara. It's not what you think it is." He'd given her a half-smile. "Trust me."

She had. And Len and Gideon had returned to the ship not long later. Sara had looked out after they'd entered the ship, just as the hatch was closing, and seen Rip standing there, alone now, looking rather lost.

She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

She rather wished Leonard was here to divert her now, but they'd both agreed that someone needed to distract Mick, who had even more reason than the rest of them to be angry at Time Master...or Bureau, whatever...high-handedness.

"He's going to want to hit something and then drink and talk," Len'd informed her drily, grabbing a bottle from their stash. "Trust me. And better he hit some dummies in the training room than go looking for a fight...and better he drink and talk about old heists than about what the Time Bastards did to him."

"Or you." More than a year, they'd thought he was dead.

"Or me." He 'd leaned over to kiss her, smirking as she'd grabbed his shirt and jokingly tried to drag him back down. She hadn't quite succeeded, but they'd gotten in a brief-but-scorching-hot kiss before he'd sighed and gently pulled away.

Remembering, Sara smiles, taking another sip and glancing around the room. Len's jacket is hung neatly on a hook, the cold gun is resting in its case on the desk, and most of his clothing has migrated to the closet. They may not get much time, but they're making sure more and more of it is together, and it feels...right.

It really does make more sense for him to move in here, she decides (resolutely choosing to believe Rip won't press his case over the ship). And when Len returns, she'll float that idea. Since Zari'd come on board and Gideon had taken over a room, they have no spares, and they should...

"Sara?"

Jax's voice through the crack in the door is worried, and Sara's instantly on alert, sitting her drink down and rising to her feet to open the door.

"What wrong?" she asks, glancing around.

"It's just..." The younger man shrugs, looking at her helplessly. "Just c'mon, OK?"

Well, it doesn't seem to be an emergency, at least. Sara follows him, intrigued despite herself, down the hall past the rest of the quarters, the galley, and a multitude of other rooms until they reach the engine room.

Jax gestures at Sara to precede him and she does, walking into the room, taking another step...and then stopping in her tracks.

Gideon's sitting in the corner, her arms wrapped around her legs and her head buried in her arms. As they approach, she looks up, and Sara sees the tears pouring down her face, utterly unchecked.

Ah, hell.

She knows without looking that Jax has beaten a hasty retreat. The pair might be close friends, but he's still a young man confronted with a woman weeping for reasons he doesn't understand. It's not really surprising. Sara sighs, then moves a little closer and sits down across from Gideon, lowering her own head to her knees and watching her.

After a moment, Gideon meets her eyes.

"I knew you humans had these silly emotions...and the oddest chemicals in your blood...and tear ducts," the ship-turned-woman says finally, ineffectually swiping at her cheeks with the palms of her hands, " but I didn't realize just little control you had over them. Especially the latter."

"Yeah, they really suck sometimes." Mentally cursing the fact that Jax hadn't thought to tell her to bring tissues, Sara casts about for something to offer, eventually choosing one of the towels Jax keeps to wipe his hands while working. Well, at least it was still clean.

Gideon accepts it, wiping her eyes even as tears continue to spill out. Sara watches a little helplessly, casting about for something to say.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks gently. "I know I can't fix it...but I can listen."

Gideon sniffles a little, the sound childlike despite her appearance. For a long moment, she's silent, staring into the towel in her hands, then looks back up at Sara.

"I..." she says, voice so quiet that Sara has to strain to hear it, "I guess I hoped it wouldn't come to this. I didn't really think he'd threaten to…to just take me…but…I worried…"

Gideon's chin comes up a little. "That's the reason why I did...this." She gestures to her human body. "To show R...the Time Masters that I am not just their _thing_. I am an _entity_. I...want...things."

Ah ha. Sara sits up a little, trying to decide just how direct to be, then shrugs.

"And 'Things' was really taken aback to see you walking around in physical, human form," she observes drily. "Right?"

The other woman's mouth drops open, and it'd be almost funny, really, if she wasn't so distraught. Sara watches her process the words and try to decide how to react to them. After a moment, though, Gideon lifts her chin and looks Sara straight in the eye.

"Is that so wrong?" she asks, a little determination back in her tone. "I know that I am not human, not quite, but I...I have known him for years. We have been a _team_. I thought he _cared_. I will never be what he lost, but I have always _been here_."

Gideon's voice had grown steadily over the course of her speech and by the end, Sara has both hands lifted in mock self-defense as she smiles at the woman's vehemence.

"No," she says in return. "No, it's not. Rip's being a jackass. He needs someone to knock some sense into him." She lifts a hand again as Gideon starts to speak. "Don't defend him. I think you're the perfect _person_ to do that." She puts gentle emphasis on the word and smiles a little as Gideon smiles in return.

"You think so?" she says, quietly again, and Sara wants to punch Rip all over again. But she doesn't show it.

"Yeah. Give him a little time to come to terms with...this." She motions to Gideon's human body. "It had to be a shock."

The other woman sniffs a little, this time in apparent annoyance. "I suppose. It's always been theoretically possible. I have said so before, but I believe he thought I was joking."

Sara decides to leave that be. "Did you hear..." She hesitates. "What did Leonard say to Rip? That's not a conversation I expected to happen, especially not without..."

"Violence? But there was nothing of the sort." Gideon nibbles her lip a little, a human mannerism that's really rather endearing. "He said he wished to remind Captain Hunt...Rip...of the way the old Time Masters handled things. Control because they could, no matter what the cost. And he reminded Capt...Rip what happened because of that."

Sara will never forget. "And what did Rip say?"

"Nothing."

* * *

She'd looked just the way she's always looked, to him.

Oh, there was no denying it'd been a shock, seeing her there, in the flesh. Yes, she'd mentioned the possibility before, but he'd always thought it was just as a scientific curiosity. Why would a ship, able to traverse time and space, wish to be human? Anything he'd ever read into their relationship was on him. A somewhat perverse fiction he'd made up in his head, nothing...real...

Rip, sitting alone in his office in the Time Bureau, takes another drink of his illicit scotch and shakes his head. It seems his Legends will always be able to shake him, no matter how hard he tries to fix his mistakes.

And for better or worse, Gideon is now a Legend.

He'd told the agents they were letting the Waverider go, for now. They'd been some disagreement, but he wasn't the only one rattled by these developments. Although he, for one, has no doubt whatsoever that Gideon is a person, not just some...construct...

"How could you do this?" she'd asked him in the few moments they'd had alone, serenity gone and grief clear in her voice. "I am not a _thing_ to be taken away and given as you see fit!"

That's actually what she'd been, according to the Time Masters. It's only been over their years together that she'd become more. Still rattled, he'd told her so.

And the look on her face...

Rip takes another drink, trying to forget. It seems to be his lot in life that he's always trying to forget.

Gideon had turned away from him then, as if she couldn't bear the sight of him, fleeing to the side of, of all people, the approaching Leonard Snart, who'd patted her on the arm in an odd show of gentleness before continuing to stroll toward him.

Rip eyed the other man, restraining the urge to check for his own weaponry. Snart has ample reason to dislike him, after all, and the cold gun is holstered openly at his side.

Instead, however, the former villain had wounded with words.

 _"Do you really want to be like_ them _? After everything? What they did to me, what they did to you? Your family? We've never been friends, but you're better than that, Rip."_

He'd been so sure he was doing what was right.

Between those words and the look on Gideon's face, he's not sure. He's not sure about anything right now.

Not a thing.


End file.
